Montag D, Henning U
Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, Tübingen, Federal Republic of Germany.
J Bacteriol. 1987 Dec;169(12):5884-6. doi: 10.1128/jb.169.12.5884-5886.1987.
Assembly of the long tail fibers of the Escherichia coli bacteriophage T4 requires the catalytic action of two auxiliary proteins. It was found that a gene of the entirely unrelated phage lambda codes for a protein which can substitute for one of these T4 polypeptides, protein 38. The lambda gene was designated tfa (tail fiber assembly). Protein 38 consists of 183 residues, and the Tfa protein consists of 194 residues; the two polypeptides are about 40% homologous. Although the tfa gene is dispensable for the growth of phage lambda, these results indicate that it may have a function in lambda morphogenesis.
大肠杆菌噬菌体T4长尾丝的组装需要两种辅助蛋白的催化作用。人们发现,完全不相关的噬菌体λ的一个基因编码的一种蛋白质可以替代这些T4多肽之一,即蛋白质38。λ基因被命名为tfa(尾丝组装)。蛋白质38由183个氨基酸残基组成,Tfa蛋白由194个氨基酸残基组成;这两种多肽约40%同源。虽然tfa基因对于噬菌体λ的生长并非必需,但这些结果表明它可能在λ形态发生中具有功能。